Application of Laser Cladding For High Speed Steel Tools

HSS (high speed steel) tool has become widely used in the machining industry because of its good machining performance. However, when processing some materials with higher hardness, the cutting temperature (about 1000 ℃) rises significantly. While the annealing temperature is generally about 860~880℃, so the hardness will decrease and cannot meet the processing requirements. In the cutting process, this tool has to bear highly intensive strike and vibration and at the same time, it is also subject to the strong friction between the workpiece and the scraping. With all the above being said, HSS tool is prone to wear, curl, or even break during the operation process. It will lose precision, lower production efficiency and shorten the service life of the tool, also the production and maintenance cost will increase dramatically.

Laser cladding technology is a material surface modification technology that has developed rapidly in recent decades. It has many excellent characteristics which cannot be achieved by traditional technologies, such as low requirements on the working environment, small deformation of the workpiece, high hardness surface modification layer, suitable for local areas and inaccessible regional processing. Therefore, laser cladding technology is being valued by more and more research institutions and enterprises. The application of laser technology to cladding a metal layer on the surface of HSS tool to improve its performance is highly recognized.

At present, the commonly used high-speed steel cutters are generally integral as one piece, and can only be scrapped when the cutting edge is worn. Therefore, the material waste of the cutter is relatively high and so is the manufacturing cost. Laser cladding technology only needs to preset the cladding material at the cutting edge of the tool to enhance it. Because of the small cladding area, precious metal powder composition can be saved, thereby reducing manufacturing costs. At the same time, the cutting edge of the tool after cladding has higher strength, hardness and wear resistance, which better solves the contradiction between the hardness and toughness of the HSS tool, and improves its cutting performance.

For traditional surface repair method, the main problem is that the layer is prone to cracks. While, for laser cladding, metallurgical bonding can be achieved to avoid delamination and crack. Some components that play a role in the bonding phase can be added to the powder composition, such as Co, Mo and RE. The addition of Co and Mo can improve the humidity of the alloy and help reduce the thermal shrinkage stress of the cladding layer during the condensation process; RE refines the grain structure of the alloy layer and improves toughness, thereby reducing the occurrence of cracks. In addition, the properties of cladding layer can be improved by optimizing the alloy powder formulation and laser process parameters, in this way, crack tendency can be greatly reduced.  

Senfeng, with its self-developed laser cladding machines, can help you with surface enhancement in a revolutionary way. Not only do we research on machines, but also we own our lab to study on powder composition to meet the needs for different components, different materials, and different working conditions that the components are working under. Apart from all the above mentioned, we have an independent test center, including salt mist test devise, hardness test devise. Feel free to send your sample and requirement and we can issue the test report to show if our cladding can help you reach the standard of abrasion and corrosion resistance. We are the top in laser cladding within China manufacturers and please trust us to provide the first class products and service!